1. DSS meeting – September 2007 Point 3.4 of the Agenda
Core social variables New proposal for income variable Doc Eurostat/F/07/DSS/11/3.4/EN
DSS meeting – September 2007 Point 3.4 of the Agenda

2. DSS meeting –September 2007
Background
Definition of income variable as a core variable for social surveys
September 2006
DSS agreeing on the list of core variables
Mandate given to EU-SILC methodological TF to further work out the income variable
June 2007
Proposal of the EU-SILC TF endorsed by the Living Conditions working group
July 2007
Presentation/discussion at SDG
DSS meeting –September 2007
Point 3.4

3. DSS meeting –September 2007
Household income
Aim of the variable
Consistent ordering/classification of household according to standard of living
Classification purpose only (no derived statistics)
DSS meeting –September 2007
Point 3.4

4. DSS meeting –September 2007
Household income
Concepts
Household (housekeeping concept)
Monthly (current month)
Net Income
Income components
Work/wages or self employment income
Property income
Social benefits and inter household transfers
Tax and employee’s social contributions retrieved
DSS meeting –September 2007
Point 3.4

5. DSS meeting –September 2007
Household income
One target variable
Equivalised (modified OECD scale) total monthly household net income
Coding
Inter quintile class (1,2,3,4,5)
Cut off points (quintiles) in national currency
DSS meeting –September 2007
Point 3.4

6. DSS meeting –September 2007
Household income
Data collection recommendations
Information may be collected through one single question on total current monthly household income
Tested in ECHP
Priority should be given to the (exact) amount
Option is given to report income in ranges (to be adapted to income distribution)
In guidelines, emphasis should be given to report average in case of irregular income
DSS meeting –September 2007
Point 3.4

7. DSS meeting –September 2007
Household income
Data collection recommendations (con’t)
The equivalised income is obtained by dividing the total income by the househoId equivalised size (collected through demographic core variables). In case income is collected into ranges, some further post processing in required (distribution assumption, randomisation)
For countries/survey collecting annual income (EU-SILC), recent studies (AT, IT) seems to show that quintiles obtained on the basis of annual income distribution are well correlated with those obtained on the basis of current monthly income except for irregular income.
DSS meeting –September 2007
Point 3.4